Sophia’s footsteps echoed down the CIA’s corridor, the building eerily quiet that morning. Each tap of her heels on the marble floor was like a ticking clock, counting down the moments until she reached the door at the end of the hallway, the office of the CIA Director.
When the Director had called her earlier that afternoon, something immediately fell off.
Not the words he said, nothing in the conversation stood out as obviously wrong. But the tone. His voice. It didn’t sound like him. The way he spoke, cold, flat, distant. It wasn’t the man she’d worked under for years. He used to speak with authority, sure, but there was always a trace of humanity behind the orders.
This time? It was like a stranger was at the other end. Someone who didn’t know her at all. Who spoke to her like she w
